Pakistani policemen kidnapped; 36 militants killed

By Mohammad Hashim

KOHAT, Pakistan (Reuters) - Militants in Pakistan have kidnapped 26 police recruits on their way to college, police said on Thursday, while security forces killed 36 Islamist insurgents in clashes elsewhere in the northwest.

Separately, the British High Commission closed its visa application centre in the capital, Islamabad, because of a threat, a mission spokeswoman said.

The police recruits were travelling on three buses to a training college in the town of Hangu in North West Frontier Province when gunmen abducted them on Wednesday in the Orakzai tribal region. The militants freed the drivers.

"The drivers told us that militants had kidnapped the recruits," said Hangu police officer Mohammad Idrees.

Militants battling security forces have kidnapped numerous government officials, soldiers and policemen over the past year and are still holding many of them.

Pakistani Taliban also say they are holding two Chinese telecommunications engineers abducted last week along with a Pakistani driver and guard.

Pakistan has been a U.S. ally in its fight against Islamist militancy since the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks but the United States has repeatedly asked it to do more, in particular to stop Taliban infiltrating into Afghanistan from border sanctuaries.

Security forces have killed more than 500 insurgents, the government says, in a surge of violence since militants suspended talks with a new civilian government in June.